Nightmare or Reality
by phantom's love
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin in trying to wake Belle from her self inflicted sleeping curse finds out that while Zeus may have patted the heroes on the back for Hades demise there are some gods that are quite angry about it. Morpheus unfortunately appears to be one of them.
1. Chapter 1

**Nightmare or Reality**

As Rumple stares at Belle laying on that stone table he begins to wander just exactly how and why did things get this far out of hand. How did Belle think trapping herself and their unborn child in a nightmare would make anything better? He knows that this is mostly his fault because in the end intentions no matter if you think they are good or not never matter. The second Belle returned to him even though he was certain he'd never see her again he should have told her everything but when she said she knew his mind went blank and all he could even come close to thinking of at that moment was falling into her kiss. Who knows maybe it would break his curse and the mistake would be remedied before she even really had to find out about it? No, that's not it and he knows he can't use anything to justify it no matter how he feels about Belle, power, or anything else for that matter. With one last longing look at her peaceful face he picks up a hand full of that dust and dusts it over both Belle and himself. He has to fix this; he just HAS to.

' _I can feel it! True Love! The curse is breaking; both curses are breaking!' he is so relieved as he tries to deepen the kiss he doesn't even notice she has pulled away from him until she is naming off things that have happened almost all but yelling at him for not doing as she asked. "Belle, please, don't…"_

" _NO! You don't get a say. I'm staying here until you do as I asked and have my FATHER wake me." Belle is looking at him in anger and he's not too sure but maybe just a little hate too._

 _Shaking his head as he backs away trying to show with actions that he is not going to trap her or force her in any way to do anything he just lets her say all she's going to say. Biting his lip he finally decides to tell her about the condition set on this dream, "Please Belle just let me wake you. If I don't wake you before time is up then you will go to the fire room where you will be trapped forever."_

With an almost violent start Rumple jerks awake. Belle, however, is still sleeping soundly on the stone table. "No! NO! Belle, please, wake up! Please, I'm sorry I truly am just wake up for me now. I'll give anything to have you awake even if you hate me just please wake up."

 _Meanwhile in the dream a doppelganger of Rumple has replaced him without Belle noticing and Rumple himself is very awake and wandering if he can re-enter the dream or if it was just a one-time deal. In the dream Belle lets their "son" wake her and after informing Rumple she isn't going home with him heads through the door he opened to Storybrooke. Walking down the street she looks at the pawn shop but it is dark and appears as if he isn't there. She is totally unaware that not only is Rumple not in the pawn shop, he is not there at all and she is still trapped in the prison of her mind._

After an attempt to use the dust and three attempts to kiss her there is a noise off to the side of the structure they are in. Looking to his left there is the man from the dream and now he knows that it really was Morpheus he met in the dream. This makes no sense; why would a god trap Belle like that? What has he done to anger the gods so that any of them would take it out on Belle?

"It's quite simple Dark One. Hades is dead because of you." Reading further into Rumple's mind the god just throws back his head and laughs. "No you didn't kill him yourself. I know that BUT you did give mortals a way into his domain and you made no effort to stop them on their fools' errand."

Looking directly into his eyes Rumple says, "That may be true but they are a rather determined lot; those 'heroes'. Even if I refused to go along with Miss Swan's blackmail they would have figured a way to get my blood with or without involving Belle."

Shaking his head the taller man just looks down on him and snorts. "That might be true but the fact that you didn't even try to stop it means you are just as if not more guilty than they are." Taking a glass ball out of his pocket he holds it out and asks, "Would you like to see what your dear wife is up to in that dream of hers? Such a twisted mind she has for someone supposedly nothing but pure good." Shaking the ball like a snow globe in front of Rumple's face a scene begins to fade in of Belle not only staying on the Jolly Roger but waving off the pirate's past deeds of attempting to kill her multiple times saying she's forgiven him.

"She's a good person, far better than I or really anyone else in the thrice cursed town will ever be." A part of Rumple may not like her being so forgiving of the wrongs committed but another part also knows if she hadn't been so forgiving she never would have kept coming back. "They all have her fooled into thinking they are her friends. Some of them like Miss Lucas may be but the wolf girl isn't in Storybrooke now. The rest have all seen her as a means to an end, something to be used, or someone to use against me. She's just so nice that she overlooks it even if I hate that habit I could never hate her if that is what you are trying for."

Laughter shakes Morpheus frame for a full minute before he looks up and shakes his head. "Oh! Such plans I have for your misery. You see dream you is going to be so horrible to her, so monstrous, so dark and dangerous that when I swoop in and finally tell her that it is all still just a dream and I wake her she will be so frightened of you that she will be willing to make any deal I set with her no matter the terms as long as you NEVER get to lay eyes on your child in any realm or reality."

Walking over to the bowl with the dust Morpheus picks up a handful of it and shakes it till all of it is back in the bowl. Laughing yet again he states, "Too bad this won't work for you now and well I don't need it to enter or exit any dream I wish. So…" with that he waves his hand and the bowl is gone. "No more chances for you unless you can talk your way out of this one." Then the god is gone just as silently as he came leaving a heartbroken man staring at the space he once stood in.

Looking down he sees the ball and upon picking it up he notices a tiny crack but the dream is still playing. Maybe, just maybe, he can use this to get Belle's attention and wake her before it's too late. Belle is trapped in a nightmare partly of her own choosing but that doesn't mean he has to stand by and let her suffer. As for Morpheus, well he's had everyone angry with him and either hate him for it or swear revenge; so, how's a god any different? This just means he'll have to be more cautious and fully aware of his surroundings at all times.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Meanwhile in Storybrooke:**

"Dammit all!" Regina curses as she throws another book half-way across the room. "The bookworm just had to pick now of all times to take a beauty nap. We could really use her about now."

Emma just shakes her head and keeps thumbing through the book that she really can't even read while Snow goes and picks up the book. "You know when she wakes up and gets back here she won't be happy to find the books damaged just because you had a temper tantrum," Emma states as she looks at yet another page she can't read but this one has a picture that gives her an idea.

Bringing the book over to Regina she shows her the page. "Would this help? I don't know what it says about it but the picture looks like two people becoming one person."

A loud bang echoes through the library as the doors are forced open. "Hiding between the books? Here I thought this town was full of heroes but looks like it's just people masquerading as such while they hide like the cowards they really are." The evil queen preens while approaching the group on Hyde's arm.

"Pity really I for one was hoping for a little more action, mayhem, and death as the untold stories played themselves out." Hyde cooed in the queen's ear as he eyed the savior. "Tell me have any of you seen any sign of the Dark One and his woman yet?"

While he doesn't care one way or the other about Rumplestiltskin; David does consider Belle a friend so it is worrying to him that Hyde should be asking about her. "No one has seen any sign of them since we returned to this realm. What business do you have with Belle?"

Laughter shakes his tall frame as he looks the group over. "Funny the ones that sold her to me should be even the slightest bit concerned about her."

"We did no such thing! No one here would ever harm Belle!" Snow exclaims as she looks around to see if maybe luck would be on her side and there would be something here ready to use against the pair. "Belle is family and…"

Booming laughter interrupts the princess's little speech. "Family? Funny coming from the one that told me about her in the first place. I wouldn't have even known the Dark One had anyone in his life that I could use as leverage if you hadn't told me all about her."

The Evil Queen looks Snow over with undisguised disgust and reminds the little hypocrite, "It's funny how someone so supposedly pure can't even do something so simple as keep a secret. You couldn't for me before I was forced to marry your father and you can't now even at the possible cost of an unborn child's life." Looking the group over again she shakes her head. "If I were all of you and that includes you 'Savior' I'd watch carefully what I tell little Snowflake there."

Henry has stayed over in the back corner of the library where he was with the quill and the book. He is trying to see if he could just simply write those two doppelgangers back into their other halves but it isn't letting him. For that matter the quill refuses to write anything. At first when Hyde made the threatening statement about unfinished stories Henry had tried to see if he could get the quill to reveal them. He knew that he couldn't finish the stories but it would be nice to know the beginning of these so they may have an idea what they are up against but that didn't work either. Letting his mind wander he for whatever reason begins to think about his grandpa and suddenly the quill lights up and begins to write.

Over the course of the next couple of hours it reveals to him several truths about the events in town before their misguided trip to the underworld, the underworld events for those that are among the living, their return to Storybrooke, and then everything that has happened since his grandpa went through the portal that opened in New York to get the rest of his family back. He knows now that not only did Hyde kidnap Belle for actions committed by Dr. Jykell, his grandpa having to make that deal to try to get Belle back from Hyde, and now also realizes that had Belle been there out of the box when he used that stupid goblet to try to destroy magic he could have killed both her and the baby. The guilt he feels is to him unbearable but he knows he just HAS to make this right. Belle is still trapped in the sleeping curse and he believes it is at least in part because of him. True; she put herself under, her father refused to wake her, and she refused to let his grandpa wake her but he can't help but think that maybe if he had thought of his grandpa sooner than maybe the quill would have revealed all this to him before he did something so stupid as steal that crystal and run away to New York.

"Hey, Moms, the quill is working again. Did you really blackmail grandpa mom?" Henry asks while mostly just looking at the pages he just wrote.

Stepping forward Emma reaches for him, "Henry, I would never blackmail dad. I…"

Before she can say anything else Henry looks at her angrily, "No. Not Gramps, Grandpa." Seeing the blank look on Emma and the confusion on everyone else Henry takes a breath. "My other grandpa; Rumplestiltskin."

Regina steps forward fully prepared to defend Emma from any accusations. "Anything she did to the imp he fully deserves." Starting to put her arm around his shoulders she continues, "Besides…"

She never even fully gets her arm around him as Henry jerked away and then stepped back. "No he didn't and neither did Belle. You are all supposed to be heroes. You're supposed to be better than that." Taking out the quill again and holding it over the paper he begins to think of his grandfather again only this time he wishes with everything that he could go to him and help him like he should have done in the underworld when he got the feeling something happened to him and Belle. Looking in Emma's eyes he states, "You didn't care about my dad or what happened to him just like you don't care about Grandpa or Belle. Belle is supposedly your friend and not only did you not help her in the underworld but you tried to kill her twice. I'm going to help Grandpa save Belle and the baby." With that he finishes what he was writing and disappears in a bright flash.

"What the hell was that!? Why the hell would the boy care so much about the bloody crocodile anyway?" Hook asks while looking at the spot where Henry was with poorly disguised disgust.

For once Emma notices her "true love's" behavior and tone. This is something she doesn't like. "Hey, I get it you don't like Gold. I'm not his biggest fan either but he is Henry's grandfather and…"

Before she can finish Hook turns on her furious and advances, "I don't care if the boy looks at the crocodile like he actually is a person much less family. What I do care about is that suddenly your boy is brainwashed into giving a shit about that worthless creature!" He all but screams as he is hovering over Emma and in her face looking as if he were about to strike her.

Snow and Regina both rush to place themselves between Emma and her pirate lover.

"Hey! This isn't you!" Snow yells

"Back off pirate before I feed you your hook." Regina states at the same time Snow is yelling at him. _This could get messy if we start fighting amongst ourselves,_ Regina thinks as she prepares for the possibility of defending Emma from her boyfriend of all things.

 **In the Temple of Morpheus:**

A bright light flashes right in front of Rumple just as he is about to step up to the table Belle is laying on and once the light clears enough for him to see there stand Henry looking up at him. Before he can register the look on Henry's face or ask how and why he's here the teen all but throws himself at his grandpa wrapping his arms around him tightly. "Hi Grandpa! I am so sorry for everything and am truly sorry I didn't see sooner and try to help you. Can you forgive me?"

Pulling back Rumple looks down at Henry and still can't get over how much he looks like Bae. After swallowing past the rather large lump that formed in his throat he asks, "Forgive you? What on earth would you have to be sorry for? Everything that's happened is all me; it's all my fault. How did you get here? Why are you here?"

"I know it isn't all my fault but at least some of it is and I have plenty to be sorry for but first thing is we NEED to wake Belle now. The things the quill showed me…well let's just say there's bad and then there's worse." While saying this he starts to just hand the stack of pages that wrote themselves in the library to his grandpa but then pauses and shuffles through them first. Laughing he says, "You may already be at least partly aware of the first part so I think we need to skip to this." Then hands the shuffled pages to Rumple.

Flipping through the pages three and then four times doesn't change what was shown on them. He's still not really angry at Belle but now he is more frightened than he was before with what these pages reveal is going on. A lone tear makes its way down his face as he thinks he has truly lost another child and this time he lost him before he was even born. Realizing that might seem a touch selfish he tries to shove that thought away as hard as he can. Before he can even register that he is actually crying Henry has removed the pages from his hands and wrapped his arms around him trying to hold him. "We will fix this Grandpa. I know we will because we can't lose them. I just wish I had noticed sooner that I needed to be helping you instead of following everyone else around like some want to be hero."

"Oh Henry, you are not a want to be anything. You are a hero too; just promise me you won't do anything foolish like rip your own heart out or let someone play body-switchers with you." Rumple says as he takes a few slow deep breaths for himself and rubs circles on Henry's back hoping it's the right thing to do or that he's comforting him in some small way.

Looking at Belle and then at the cracked viewing ball Rumple picks up the ball again and rubs his thumb over the crack. "I think I might be able to use this to enter Belle's dream but that won't solve anything really because Morpheus planted a copy of me in there that is set to make Belle truly terrified of me so that she will run from the sight of me and agree to any deal he makes her."

Shaking his head Henry looks into the ball trying to see what is going on. "Yeah I know. The page after you stopped reading kind of says something about that but doesn't really go into detail." Taking the ball out of Rumple's hand he runs a finger over the crack. "Do you really think you could get in through the crack? If you time it right I think it should be easy to convince Belle you are you and that there is a dream version of you there." Pointing at a spot in the ball he says, "See he cut his hair. As long as yours stays long and I don't know maybe you wear a different color tie like you used to do maybe you could convince her."

They both stand there puzzling over it when all of a sudden the crack glows and grows larger. While Henry is puzzling over if this might allow him to go in there too to help a glowing ball flies out of the crack. As they both stand watching the ball gets larger and then suddenly there stands the Blue Fairy holding a baby and a book.

She steps back from both of them sheltering the babe from view. "What have you done Dark One!? This is low even for you."

"I have done nothing that would bring you here. Morpheus left this trinket behind and you emerged from it." Looking her over and seeing the baby in her arms. "This may present a problem. Belle is still under the sleeping curse. The baby that was born in the dream isn't the baby she is carrying."

"Lies and more lies. You truly are your parents' child demon spawn." Blue all but spits at him.

Before she can say anything else offensive or possibly just plain stupid Henry steps in. "He's telling the truth Blue. Belle, as you can see, is still under the sleeping curse and before she refused to wake but now Morpheus is controlling the dream." Looking at Belle and then back at Blue states, "I know I'm young and I don't really know much but I do know what the quill showed me. This dream that you came out of through a crack in that ball that Morpheus left behind is designed by him to make Belle be so frightened of Grandpa she'll agree to any terms he gives her."

"As I tried to say glow bug, I have done nothing to bring you here. Furthermore because you came out of that construct you both are and aren't Ruel Ghorm." Rumple gestures toward Belle to try to emphasize the fact she is STILL asleep. "The, pardon the term, "real" you I would suspect is still in Storybrooke dealing with Hyde and the Evil Queen. You are a version that my lovely wife has dreamed up but you are not actually the Blue Fairy."

Shaking her head and pointing at him with the book in hand. "No, this is another trick of yours and what is worse is you have pulled poor, young Henry into it." Approaching Henry she says, "child you…"

Before she can say anything else or get any closer to him Henry backs away and yells, "NO! I may be young but I am not stupid nor blind." Brining the quill up to eye level to show that he has it and he has control of it and himself he continues. "I brought myself here by using the quill to help my Grandpa like I should have been doing when the trouble started in the Underworld. I didn't then cause I was too caught up in trying to prove to everyone else I could be useful to realize that the best way to be useful would have been to help Grandpa and Belle save the baby from Hades."

Shaking his head and laughing almost silently Rumple finally looks back at the fairy. "I would tell you to go back where you came from but I honestly don't know if you could get back there. Either help us wake the real Belle that is laying right here where you can see her or go away and play house or whatever it is you were going to do." With that he ignores her presence and turns back to what really matters; his real family that is right there by him even if one of them is still asleep due to a combination of many things.

"We have a ton of work to do to figure this out; don't we grandpa?" Henry says as he looks at Belle then back at the quill thinking if maybe he could just write them into her dream or better yet just write her awake. Maybe if he could do that then he could also spare her and his aunt or uncle that fire room cause that place was just…' _yeah best not think about that_ ' he thinks as he shivers and covers his arm where it got burned at least three separate times.

Rumple notices Henry hold his arm and shiver. Concerned for his grandson he reaches out for his arm. When Henry jumps back he just drops his hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Are you alright? Is your arm bothering you?"

Shaking his head Henry finally looks fully into Rumple's eyes, "Sorry, guess I was just stuck in my own head for a minute there. I'm fine, really, I am. It's just for a minute there I was thinking about the fire room and the quill and maybe I could wake Belle and spare her that if I used the quill to wake her…it's stupid I know. Curses don't work that way; you can't just write them out of existance."

Henry saying that makes Rumple draw back and looks like even in on himself a bit. "I'm sorry, Henry. I really am I didn't think about how writing the darkness out of me would mean that you weren't born. My head wasn't that clear by that point; which isn't an excuse but, had I been able to think more clearly I would have tried harder to find a different way or make sure that somehow you were still born in that new world. However, I am glad that world didn't work out because now I have you if you can stand to put up with an old, evil sorcerer like myself."

Laughing Henry hugs him again and says, "You aren't evil; just dark and misunderstood but I wouldn't have you any other way." Looking up at the sky he notices it darkening. "Silly question but I haven't really seen the sun here so; is it really almost night time already?"

Looking around both Rumple and Blue notice the darkening as well. "Maybe it is just a storm that will pass by quickly." Blue states as she looks at the sky and while she can't find the sun to verify if it is setting she also can't see any heavy clouds that would block the sun out either.

Snorting Rumple looks at her then at the sky. "A storm with no clouds? No dearie, even a magical storm would have clouds. I fear this may be something worse…far worse."

Looking at their surroundings and then the sky Henry asks, "What could be worse than a storm with us in an open air temple, surrounded by trees, and no way to find shelter quickly?"

Just then a very large lightening bolt strikes the ground just barely one foot from the table Belle is laying on. "You just had to ask that didn't you? The grandson of the Dark One of all people should know better than to ask something like that."

Before Rumple can snap at Blue for what she has said Henry chimes in. "I'm sorry I'm not the perfect whatever you want me to be Blue. Wait, no I am NOT sorry. I will not apologize to you for anything that I actually have done wrong."

Blue snaps back with something about smart-mouthed children that Rumple didn't fully hear because he is paying more attention to the storm than to his companions. Suddenly as they really begin to tear into each other the wind picks up even more. "ENOUGH! Silence both of you. I do believe this storm is of a similar nature to one we ran into while journeying to Neverland. That storm intensified as the Charmings and Regina squabbled amongst themselves."

As they are calm now they both notice that while it is still raining it isn't full on storming like it was. "I think Grandpa is right. Besides, even without the storm getting worse cause of us, the fighting won't do anything to help wake Belle up."

Shaking her head and sighing, "You are correct Henry. Do you know if I can do anything to help you?"

"Do you know how you got out of Belle's dream and to the temple here in the waking world?" Henry emphasizes his point by shaking the ball in front of her face making sure the crack is where she can see it.

Touching the ball Blue shakes her head. "Honestly, I have no idea but I will help you for your sake and for Belle's. The quicker we do this the sooner you can be away from HIM and his dark influence." The last part Blue says while giving Rumple a dirty look.

Henry knows Blue gave his dad the bean that cause some of the mess but beyond that he doesn't know what else went on between his grandpa and the fairy. Honestly, right now he doesn't care about that as long as they don't kill each other before Belle is awake. _God it's bad when the teenager may have to be the referee between the adults._ Henry thinks as he warily watches those two circling each other similar to what he saw the large cats on Animal Planet do with each other.

"Well, let's get started. Like you said the sooner we start; the sooner Belle is awake."


End file.
